


Fake dating a stranger

by virvatulilla



Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, One Night Stands, but it's instantly countered, i just needed to write how these two met, in-world for my own universe, pre-canon for my own story, there's some homophobia there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 03:24:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15940793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virvatulilla/pseuds/virvatulilla
Summary: the story of how Mát met Vicos's father (and Vicos). Mát/Parrai.





	Fake dating a stranger

First of all, Mát had not been prepared for how different the strilonia spoken in Aaniedelain was compared to his native dialect. It had taken him the whole boat trip from Liese to Doreia to get used to the way aaniedelins talked.

Doreia was a good city. It was old and full of all kinds of people, colours, and smells. And when Mát had found an inn in a good, quiet location, he had received a warmer welcome than ever in Hilindar. Doreians clearly loved up to their reputation of not being ashamed of physical contact with others.

Mát had arrived in the evening, and he was in no hurry to do anything, so he took his sweet time exploring the city. He found out that at least a quarter of everything in the city was for or by fiosais, that Aaniedelain had three official languages – not two like he had thought – and that prostitute was an actual job in the country.

The former fact was something Mát had stumbled on almost by accident, but after a lengthy conversation with, Aran, one of the workers, and several cups of tea Mát had a good sense of how the business worked in Doreia. 

After the tea time at the pleasure house Mát went to explore more of the city. On the boat ride he had asked around a lot about what he should definitely see in Doreia, and one that had stuck to his head was “the Golden Arches.” He had practically already seen them from the ship, but it had been dark, so he hadn’t actually seen anything.

The day was bright, and Mát was feeling light as he walked towards the harbour. During the tea time chat with Aran he had cautiously asked about the general treatment of certain minorities in Doreia, and Aran had softly taken his hand. “You don’t have to hide here,” he had said. “I can hear in your words that we’re not treated well where you come from. But know that you don’t need to fight the same battles here. Here you can truly be yourself.”

Just hearing Aran say those words had lifted a weight off Mát’s shoulders, but he was still sceptical. Surely nobody would have said something like that if it wasn’t true, but Mát couldn’t help but hear a tiny voice at the back of his head going “but what if…”

That’s why Mát literally stopped mid-step when he saw two women kiss on the stairs of a public building.

It wasn’t anything showy or grand, just a casual nice-to-see-you -kiss. Mát turned to glance around, but nobody around him looked like they had even noticed what had happened. When he turned back, the women were walking away arm in arm, disappearing into the crowd.

Mát had to sit down. He was so relieved that tears were pooling in his eyes. In all his life he had never dared to hope that he would one day be in a place where he wouldn’t have to hide a big part of who he was.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Mát raised his head from his hands to look at the speaker, who had just sat beside him. He was gorgeous in a way Mát wasn’t used to seeing – long, wavy auburn hair and just a hint of superiority in the way he was carrying himself.

Mát wiped his eyes on the back of his hand. “I’m fine, just… overwhelmed,” he said.

The other man nodded, was about to say something to Mát, but then he saw something on the street and his eyes widened. “I’m really sorry for asking this, but can you kiss me?”

Mát froze. He didn’t understand what was happening at all, and the sudden proposal threw him off.

“Bear with me,” the stranger said, and hugged Mát. While he did that, he whispered in his ear: “I need you to pretend we’re dating, just for one conversation. I’ll make it up to you.”

Before Mát had had time to properly take in the offer, the other man stood up to greet a person who was clearly a guard of something, judging by his uniform-like outfit and the sword on his hip. Mát’s first instinct would have been to flee as quietly as possible, but the stranger looked at the guard as if he was their superior.

“You should not leave your brother like that,  _ nori _ ,” the guard said. “Your mother would faint if she heard that you are slacking off doing nothing and left your brother alone at the university again.”

“I’m not doing nothing,” the man answered, sounding annoyed, and glanced at Mát. “I’m on a date.”

The guard also glanced at Mát, and huffed in amusement. “You should’ve learned that your little trick doesn’t work,” he said. “How many times are you going to try before you realize you need to at least ask for someone’s name before trying to trick me?”

Mát stood up. “No need to call this a trick,” he said, holding his hand out to the stranger and looked the guard in the eye. “My name is Mát, by the way. You could’ve asked me if you needed to know.”

The guard didn’t look convinced. “Very well,  _ Mát _ ,” he said, “if you’re dating Parrai, then you can tell me how exactly you two are doing it. Is it fun taking it up the butt?”

Mát had heard that exact question innumerable times in Liese, and was about to answer, but Parrai clearly wasn’t going to have it. He was seething with anger as he stepped towards the guard with such dominance that the guard took two steps back.

“Ames Calan Kordas,” he boomed. “If a sentence like that ever leaves your head hole again, gods help me I  _ will _ have you charged for hate speech. Your family sent you here to be a guard for you to make them proud, how do you think they’d react if your punishment this time was exile?”

The guard bowed his head and hastily withdrew from sight, mumbling apologies as he went. Parrai turned to Mát, looking probably more apologetic than Mát had seen anyone be. “I’m ashamed that you had to hear all that,” he said. “He has yet to learn hateful talk like that has consequences. I have to make that up to you, what can I do? Name anything.”

Mát shook his head. “You don’t have to,” he said. “I’m used to hearing worse.”

Parrai placed a hand on Mát’s shoulder. “That’s no reason why I shouldn’t apologize for you hearing something like that again,” he said. “And I insist on making it up to you.”

Something in Parrai had made Mát curious. “Well,” he said, “what about going on a date for real? It would be nice to have a local guide.”

Parrai was a great guide to Doreia. He had been born in the city and knew it like the back of his hand. He showed Mát the most famous sights, had an extensive knowledge of the city’s history and was fluent in all three of the country’s official languages. All of this just made Mát more interested in him. Also, in addition to everything else, Parrai was attractive and knew how to make people laugh.

They spent the whole day together. Mát learned a lot about Doreia and Aaniedelain, and in return he told Parrai about Hilindar. He was especially interested in how the government worked, but Mát wasn’t well-versed enough in politics to be able to answer to all of his questions.

At the end of the day, they were sitting in the dining area of the inn where Mát was staying. “Thanks to you I will never regret coming to Doreia,” Mát told Parrai when they were finishing their food. “This day has been great, and I appreciate you going out of your way to do all this.”

Parrai gave a disbelieving laugh. “Who says the day is over?” he said. “And honestly, you’re the one who went out of your way to help me. I’ve been trying to make it up to you, but I feel like you’ve given me more than I can give you.”

“What are you saying?” Mát asked. “This day has been more than enough. Just being in a whole city where I can hold hands with another man and not be instantly attacked is more than enough.”

Parrai looked at Mát, a playful glimmer in his eyes. “Am I right if I think you’re saying you enjoyed my company?”

“Enjoyed?” Mát said and had to hold himself back from cupping Parrai’s face in his hands. “If you put it mildly.”

“What do you mean?”

Mát glanced around in the room, trying to remind himself that people here didn’t think same-sex relationships were bad. Nonetheless, he lowered his voice and leaned in to speak right at Parrai’s ear. “Honestly, I grow more attracted to you every passing moment. You’ve been good to me, and very considerate. I don’t know how things like this work around here, but I would be willing to have sex with you.”

Parrai raised one eyebrow. “I can see you’re not used to… ‘things like this’,” he said and leaned in to speak into Mát’s ear. “But I can teach you. If you let me, you won’t be able to sleep tonight. Oh, and…”

Mát’s ears were burning by the time Parrai finished what he had to say. “So what do you say?” he asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Should we get going?”

“Going where?” Mát asked, putting his hand on Parrai’s arm when he was about to stand up. “I thought…”

Parrai sat back down. “Right,” he sighed. “There are some things you need to know before I take you anywhere. One, you’re not allowed to bring nightly guests to inns, that’s just common sense, two: it’s definitely better where I’d be taking you. You also need to know that while I am engaged, we have an agreement about short-term relationships.”

Mát was quiet for a while. “What do you mean by ‘engaged’?”

As if Mát had been joking, Parrai laughed. Then he saw the confusion on Mát’s face. “Wait, are you serious?” he asked. “Do hilindarians not get married? Wait, let’s talk about it after sex or otherwise we’ll never get there, alright?”

“Let’s do that,” Mát smiled. “Where are we going?”

The place where Parrai took Mát was within a short walking distance. It was already dark outside, so when Parrai held out his hand for Mát, he took it. Walking in a public street holding hands with someone he was attracted to felt scary, but Parrai’s warm and strong hand gave Mát courage.

They entered the building through a small inner ward. As soon as they were inside the building Parrai grabbed Mát by the collar. “Kiss me,” he demanded.

Having only kissed one person before, Mát hesitated. Parrai noticed his hesitation and assured him that they could stop any moment, take it slow, “just ask. You can do anything you want to me, I know my limits well.”

Mát placed a hand on Parrai’s cheek. He leaned against Mát’s hand, closing his eyes, arms loosely around his waist.

It was not that Mát didn’t want to kiss, he only wanted to do it properly. Upon closer inspection there were dim freckles scattered on Parrai’s face – mostly his cheeks, but also a couple on his eyelids. Mát stroked them with a fingertip, making a gentle smile appear on Parrai’s lips. Mát slid his fingertips along his cheek, and onto his lips.

When their lips touched, it didn’t change Mát’s world. Clouds did not part to reveal the sun nor did the ground crumble beneath his feet. But it did start a change in him. Mát only realized it later, but that kiss started him on a path on being less ashamed, and more proud of who he was.

 

The next morning Mát woke up somewhere else than where he remembered falling asleep. The sun was shining in from a crack in tall curtains hanging in front of the tallest window Mát had ever seen.

Mát shot up in the bed, his first panicked thoughts being he had been abducted, but after a couple of frantic heartbeats he started to remember the previous night. Mát sank back into the bed. After he and Parrai had done it four times, Mát had been very sleepy and barely coherent. It was no wonder his memory of going somewhere else in the middle of the night wasn’t the clearest.

There was a knock on the door. Mát sat up again, not sure who to expect.

It was Parrai. “Good morning,” he said, face beaming with a smile. “I hope you slept well. At least you were sleaping well when I carried you here.”

Mát looked around in the room when Parrai sat on the edge of the bed. Even to Mát’s untrained eye, everything in the room was clearly indicating great wealth. “Your family must have a high social standing,” he noted. “Or at least a huge amount of money.”

“Yes, you could put it that way,” Parrai chuckled. Mát was only now noticing that his clothes and even his hair looked a lot better, shinier, and better taken care of than on the previous day. “But our material wealth has been accumulating for centuries so, it’s no wonder there’s so much of it in the palace.”

Something finally clicked in Mát’s head. “Are you… royalty?” he asked and got a satisfied nod from Parrai. “I knew you had to be some kind of nobility, but  _ royalty _ ? Is there a reason you kept it from me this long?”

“Yes,” Parrai said, scooting closer to Mát in the bed, so that their knees were touching through the blanket. “It’s nice to be treated like an equal sometimes, and the way you stood up for me, a stranger, just like that? Don’t let anyone tell you you’re only special because of your hair.”

Parrai reached out to stroke Mát’s bright red hair. Mát leaned into the touch, closing his eyes.

There was another knock on the door. Parrai looked at Mát. “I hope you don’t mind that my family is nosy,” he said as he got up from the bed. “You better put some pants on.”

Mát rushed to put on his pants, and he half expected Parrai’s parents to walk through the door, but instead as soon as Parrai opened the door, two children ran into the room. The younger was barely keeping up with the older, but screaming louder.

“I’m sorry,” a pretty, golden-haired woman said as she hurried after the children. “Their uncle gave them too much sugar on purpose and I can’t get them to stay still.”

Parrai left the door open. “Mát, meet Xilien, my future wife,” he said. “And these two are our kids. Geras and Vicos, don’t pull down the curtains and come say hello to our guest.”

Xilien had to go help the children get out of the curtains, because they had already gotten tangled up in them. Mát took advantage of the moment and spoke quietly to Parrai. “You didn’t tell me you had kids,” he whispered. “Is it smart to introduce me to your family like this? Are you sure I won’t get in trouble?”

“I told you not to worry so much,” Parrai whispered back and put an arm on Mát’s bare waist. “You’re not the first guest I’ve brought here, and Xilien does this too, even though she’s not allowed to bring her guests to the palace.”

Xilien had successfully untangled the children from the curtains and led them to stand in front of Mát and Parrai. Now that they were standing still Mát could see that the older one took after Xilien in appearance, while the younger one looked clearly more like Parrai.

“Nice to meet you, I am Geras Benoutinan,” the older child said, and then pushed their younger sibling apparently to show them it was their turn.

“Vicos,” the younger said and curtsied. Parrai beamed. “Well done,” he laughed. “I see your nanny waiting in the doorway, go with her.”

Geras didn’t need to be told a second time and was out the door in the blink of an eye. Vicos, however, didn’t want to leave. They walked in front of Mát and held their hands towards him. “Up,” Vicos demanded.

Mát hesitated, but after an encouraging look from Xilien he picked Vicos up. The child was very fascinated with his hair – Parrai had to intervene when Vicos started pulling Mát’s hair like they wanted to have a lock of it for theirself.

“Prettier than mom,” Vicos told Mát enthusiastically before the nanny came to take them away from Mát.

When the nanny closed the door behind her, Xilien fell down on the bed. “I’m so glad she came to work today,” she said, beckoning Mát and Parrai to join her on the bed. “Jamer has been a pain in the ass, and he won’t stop trying to sabotage everything I do.”

“Jamer is my little brother,” Parrai explained to Mát, pulling him to sit down next to him on the bed. “He’s almost as bitter as a person as our father.”

“Yeah, don’t let her “gentle ruler” act fool you,” Xilien told Mát. “She’s as bitter as soppy tea leaves in her personal life, I can tell you that from experience.”

“Wait a minute,” Mát said, “I’m confused, is your father a woman? Also are you the heir to the crown?”

Parrai and Xilien both looked a bit confused at first, but then they understood what Mát meant. “Yes, my father is a woman,” Parrai explained, “even though we use the same words for our parents than you do, we don’t attach gender to them. And you are correct, I am indeed the heir.”

“That’s why we’re not married yet,” Xilien chimed in. “Parrai’s father set a rule that neither of her children can become the next ruler if they marry someone before that. And also because it’s easier to find people to sleep with when you’re not married. Most girls I’ve met are pretty strict about that.”

Parrai slid his hand along Mát’s back and into his neck, so he could stroke his hair. Mát saw Xilien notice it, and his heartbeat sped up, but she didn’t seem bothered in the least. “Mát, do you mind if I ask – why is your hair that colour?” Xilien asked. “Are you part fiosai?”

It looked as though Parrai was about to start lecturing Xilien, but Mát answered before he could say anything. “As far as I’m aware there are no fiosais in Hilindar,” he said. “My hair is this colour because I survived the red fever.”

Both Xilien and Parrai stopped to look at him. Then they looked at each other. “Isn’t the red fever…”

“Yes,” Mát said, “as far as I know I am the only person who has survived it. I’m sure there have been others like me, but none that I’m aware of.”

Parrai’s fingers tightened in Mát’s hair. Xilien looked thoughtful. “You must have been wondering a lot why you survived when no one else has,” she said. “Do you have– okay, Parrai, do you want me to leave?”

Mát was blushing furiously and had trouble looking Xilien in the eye, because Parrai had started kissing his neck. He didn’t even look at Xilien when he said: “ask Mát what he wants you to do, I’d like to make out with him. He’s my guest.”

Xilien stood up. “I think I’ll take my leave,” she said, smiling at Mát. “Unless you want me to join?”

Mát’s blush deepened even more. “N-no,” he stammered, “I don’t– I only like men.”

“I see,” Xilien smiled and shortly put her hand on Parrai’s head, which was buried in the crook of Mát’s neck. “Well, have fun.”

As soon as the door closed behind Xilien, Parrai pushed Mát to lay back on the bed. Now that there was no audience, Mát could also enjoy the situation. He slid his hands along Parrai’s back and under his shirt, pulling it from his pants.

When they finished, Mát’s neck and chest were speckled with lovebites, and his pants had been discarded on the floor. Parrai was completely naked, his hair was disheveled, and he was literally glowing.

“I see the core of your athi is light,” Mát said to Parrai, stroking his shoulder. “You look beautiful like this.”

Parrai hummed in agreement, without opening his eyes. “I think the most beautiful is people whose athi core is earth,” he said. “They often grow flowers when they’re like this.”

“That’s amazing,” Mát smiled. “Maybe I have to find myself a boyfriend like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! kudos and comments always make my day ^^


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